Ann Kim’s New Edina Pizzeria: Hello Pizza

Natalie Champa Jennings / Heavy Table

Ann Kim will still be making pizza at her new Edina restaurant, but it will definitely have its own identity.

The Pizzeria Lola chef / owner is planning to open Hello Pizza in early 2013 just off France Ave at 3904 Sunnyside Rd, serving New York-style pizza both by the slice and in a 16-inch pie. An expanded array of Lola’s swooned-over soft serve is planned, as well as cookies and a few sandwiches and salads. Delivery is possible, too, something Lola general manager Rachel Swan said simply wasn’t currently possible because of space constraints.

In short, Swan said the goal is for Hello Pizza to fit comfortably into the surrounding neighborhood of family-friendly businesses.

“[Kim] wants to make Hello Pizza super-friendly — a communal gathering space, but with a lot of the core ideas from Lola,” Swan said. “In that neighborhood, there are a lot of walkers and young kids, so [at Hello Pizza] you can get a slice instead of having to order a whole pizza. A classic New York, East Coast slice. Just jump in after school, grab a slice and go. It’s really that sort of vibe.”

One thing that won’t be at Hello Pizza is a duplicate of Lola’s centerpiece wood-fired oven. Kim is still mulling her options and talking to other pizza experts to determine the best oven to create true East Coast-style pies with just the right char.

Swan mentioned a soda fountain as a possibility, and beer and wine were being considered but not vital, and Kim’s love of cured meats and charcuterie would definitely work into the new menu. But Hello Pizza won’t stray too far from what has made Pizzeria Lola a phenomenal success.

“We just started curing our own bacon in-house, and she’s going to bring the meatballs over for a grinder,” Swan said. “We’re talking about maybe a couple sandwiches, but like Lola we’ll have that same concept of really focusing in on one thing and doing that one thing well.”

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About the Author

Jason Walker

Jason Walker was born and raised in Kansas, where he grew up loving his grandmother’s homemade noodles and weekly fried fish. A summer internship in Milwaukee turned Jason and his wife, Leita, into die-hard fans of the Northwoods culture, and they moved to Minneapolis in 2006. Immediately the quality of food and drink in the Twin Cities was impressive – that even the most unassuming bar usually had a decent menu – and Jason knew he was home. Now living in the Fulton neighborhood with two kids, Jason grows tomatoes, cans voraciously, and badgers his neighbors with conversations about restaurants.

13 Comments

Will fail within 6 months. No one does good NY-Style pizza here. Many have attempted and all have failed. If she is “consulting” people on how to make authentic NY-style pizza, it means she already has failed. You either know how to make it or you don’t.

Actually, Black Sheep Pizza does the best job mimicking NY style pizza. I’ve been to Lola several times, in the course of 2 years, and they can’t get the crust right. Lola is also incredibly expensive!
The new place will succeed, only because of Minnesota ignorance. Most Minnesotans don’t know anything about NY style pizza, and based on my experiences at Lola, they don’t know anything about pizza period.

Pizzeria Lola has great pizza. The char on the blisters of the crust add a color and texture and flavor. The combinations of flavors on the Zaa Zaa is an explosion of taste experiences on your pallet. Everything on that pizza and her other creations are wonderful. Ann’s second incarnation will be just as exciting and successful, and, NOT because of our population’s low standards for taste or level of sophistication. Ann produces a quality product and it’s reproducible. That will assure her a successful business.

All I got to say is this…the oven guy, Scott, at Lola should work at the new place too. He’s the highlight. He loves to talk to customers and has such knowledge of the oven. Watching him work that iron paddle is like magic. I like him a lot. In fact I wish I were at Lola right now. I’d say, Scott, “How hot is it in there…your pants that is?”

Pizza Lola makes the best pizza anywhere in the Twin Cities… period. However, I’m not so sure I like the sound of Hello Pizza when they going to cook a classic New York style pie… but don’t even know what type of oven to use??? I wish Lola luck.

kj is a moron! pizzeria lola was just voted #1 pizza in the country by food and wine. New York City pizza is definitly in its own class but don’t sit there and call her a failure before she even opens the doors. prop your community up alittle bit and give some support. obviously she has a vision of what ppl like and wants to make great food.